Because of their ability to move large amounts of material, conveyor belts have been long been used in industry such as for moving agricultural products, rocks and other mined materials and various manufactured products.
One area in which conveyor belts are extensively usjod is equipment for moving agricultural products and, in particular, agricultural equipment that is used for harvesting. Wide-aspect belts are extensively used in farm machinery, especially harvesting implements, examples of which are discussed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,371,580 and 4,518,647.
A farm implement known as a swather may be provided with an elongated cutter bar to cut grass, wheat, oats, barley, rice, canola or other grains. Conveyor belts known as draper belts are located behind the cutter bar to convey the cut materials to crimp rollers or other processing subsystems, or to the ground.
In addition to the forces associated with moving the products placed on the draper belts that place strains on these items, the draper belts may be exposed to adverse environmental conditions such as high and low operating temperatures that potentially shorten the useful operation life of the draper belts.